Cowboy Bebop: Red Earrings
by 4fireking
Summary: This story takes place in season one and features our favorite anti-hero Spike Spiegel. It wouldn't be a story without him. It also features a brown haired anti-hero who just wants to be remembered. Stuck on a planet for six weeks for ship repairs they have to meet.


Disclaimer: I do not own Cowboy Bebop. I do own what Spike spends with his woolongs in this story and the character in it. So please read and enjoy.

Cowboy Bebop [Session 1] Red Earrings

When people first meet Spike Spiegel, he either presents himself as a buffoon or beats people with calm, fluid moves. No one is smoother than him, Mr. Water Cowboy.  
>Not Jet, not Ed, not Faye, and certainly not their dog, Ein. People start to wonder if he really is lazy or if his laid-back style really works.<p>

Right then was a good example of not being tense. He was just sitting in his lawn chair on the wing of the Bebop with a toothpick in his mouth. Everyone else was shopping. At least, that's what he thought.

Ein waddled out of the spaceship looking for something to eat. The Corgi saw Spike's finger swinging back and forth flirtatiously. The dog moved to the finger, licking  
>his chops like they were covered in Tasty Crunchy Mako Dog Treats, the only dog food on this planet. He lapped at Spike's fingers.<p>

Spike felt fidgety, completely unaware that Ein was snacking on his digits. He was deep in a dream, walking through the town. With his hands stuffed in his pockets, he looked around, eyes portraying his boredom. Suddenly, a giant face smashed through the image of the town. It was a giant frog's face. The huge frog looked down at Spike and said, "Welcome to the town of Heaven. Here you can see me in my true form..."

Spike was woken with a yelp by an intense pain. He screamed and yelled, waving his hand to shake off the offender. This dog was still biting his finger as though it were a game.

Well, that was some way to free someone from a dream, wouldn't you say?

()

Jet Black, the giant man whom no man smaller than he wanted to make angry, was walking through a local organic grocery store. Faye and Ed followed in his wake. He was carrying two grocery bags. Ed was holding the smallest bag in her hands proudly and grinning broadly. Faye was holding one bag. The store owner had given her half price because she radiated with sex appeal.

"Is this all we're having for the next six weeks?" Faye sighed shaking her bag to as though to draw attention to how little there was.

"Beef, onion, and peppers. Spike's favorite," Jet said, laughing.

"It should really be called peppers, but I'm too hungry to care."

"Ooh, is Faye Valentine getting hungry? She finally admits it."

"Onion contest!" Ed cried happily, following Jet's laughter.

This was really all Faye had to look forward to for the next six weeks. It was nothing but onions with peppers. Just once, just one little piece, even though she normally  
>despised meat, she wanted some beef in those bowls. So caught up in her inner lamentations was she that she didn't notice a man with red earrings was following them.<p>

He was a cowboy, and had everything an old TV western cowboy would have. First, there was his trusty black lasso, Grim Grim Boa; a gun that could fire twenty bullets faster than a man could take a bite of sweet butter corn; and his belt with its own secret weapon. He didn't wear a hat, but he did have cowboy boots. They were customized so the spur made noise with every step, and white clouds were printed on the brown leather. His shirt was white, but covered with stains from dropping cake over it. It's not an easy shirt to find and he couldn't afford the dry cleaning bill. His hair was a big mullet of brown hair, two-thirds brown and the rest blond. He was by far the most interesting, most amazing, and possibly the most unforgettable thief you would ever meet. Around those parts they called him The Red Thief.

Look at the way he approached his victims, doing his slow strut with his earrings jiggling. Indeed, he was a groovy cowboy with bronze spurs and his cool belt with the big buckle. He pushed his sunglasses back into place. They were purple sunglasses with dark lens. No one could impress anyone with those sunglasses. He had to be careful whose attention he tried to attract. So he went for Faye.

"It's terribly hot today, wouldn't you agree?" the man asked Faye.

Normally, this would be what she knew all too well as a pick up line, and she would kick him in the fork of his legs and send him away and be done with it.

This man was rubbing his hair and talked with a very gentle voice. However, her other hand was reaching for her gun. "My friends call my Riley," he continued obliviously. "There's Holly, Kerk, S.S, and Randy. What do your friends call you?"

" Her name is Ed," Jet Black said. The man looked at Ed while continuing to smile. He wasn't scared by how big he looked or the metal under his left eye, his talon. " You will call me Jet Black."

" Jet Black. How I wish my friends called me Jet Black. Riley doesn't compare to Jet Black. But who are you?"

" Faye. Why are you talking to us? You're not expecting anything from us, are you?"

" The only thing I expect is you not to get robbed. It would be a shame if you got robbed. I once thought I could never get robbed. I kept all my money in my bed, the place where I sleep, and when I woke up all my money was taken from me. I guess it was a bad day for Riley Steve Dairelic, me." Riley looked at Jet Black. He reminded him of a little story. There was a man with three beer bottles under a neon sign. There was a stranger joining him under the sign. The stranger said he was looking for his dog. The man didn't believe him. The stranger showed him his bag with plastic bags in it. The stranger told him how his wife died and the dog was the only family he had left. By the end of it he was writing down his number in case he saw the dog. The man realized two things when he got home. One: the stranger never told him what kind of dog his was. Two: all the beer in his bag was gone. It was just beer.

Ergo, this was the stranger who was after their bags. Only this time it was food instead of beer. " And so I told my doctor, I couldn't tell the difference." Ed and Faye laughed. This man was hilarious as well as a stranger. That's probably why Ed and Faye don't expect him of stealing. " Big man, tell me more about Spike Spiegel."

" You told him about Spike?" Jet Black looked at Faye. She was being a little standoffish and looked to the left.

" She doesn't have to tell me, I know all about Spike Spiegel. It's tough trying to find the man who murdered your best friend's father, but Spike found him and saved my friend. Since my friend saw the killer's face he was going to kill him. Can I please met him?"

" He's not really someone who shows his face to everyone," Faye said. " But we have to stay on this planet for six weeks. Maybe you'll see him."

Riley smiled when he walked in front of everyone and shook their hands. " It's been fun but my friends are waiting for me. Ciao-"

" Not so fast!" Jet Black shouted. " No one steals peppers on my watch!"

" Who has been stealing peppers..."

Jet Black was looking through Riley's pockets for any peppers or onions he might have stole. He didn't find them. What he found was a lot of leaves. Black leaves no one would keep unless they had some kind of reason. Jet Black was embarrased.

" Never mind. You can go."

" Ah, you thought I was a thief. No harm done." Riley waved good-bye to those three. His sleep disorder was starting to act up. He walked to a barrel ready to take a nap. How do you hide stealing peppers? You take them and put them somewhere no one will look, your mouth. Already he crunched those peppers and swallowed them. " No harm to me. I won."


End file.
